Look, just because I'm giving up on the Game, doesn't mean that I'm giving up writing as a whole. That's rude of me, and unfair to you all.

This note will be the only one posted at the top, unless important information needs to be broadcasted immediately.

Neutrality doesn't have an opposite to itself, for it is balanced on its own terms, and in that regard, is the most dangerous of all emotions. ~Unknown

Magic.

On Remnant, such a thing only exists in fairy tales, and the closest to it is Nature's Wrath, or more commonly known as Dust. The people of this world have quite the otherworldy powers, however, with being able to move faster, hit harder as they get hit, summon their slain foes, leave mirages, illusions, disguises, redirect attacks, or even move objects with Dust and their minds.

Certainly not magic at all.

However, farther away, on a different world not too dissimilar to Remnant, if you told someone that magic didn't exist on that world, but had in place Soul power-Aura-and the ability to control it-Semblances-they would laugh their ass off, and then knock you off a cliff for being an idiot.

In the case of one particular individual, however, that notion was starting to seem quite plausible.

Blinding. That was the first thought that came to the mind of the figure wandering through the woods at this time. Howling winds sliced through the armor and cloak the figure wore, chilling them greatly. It was a bit surprising that they didn't encounter any wolves during this time, as they thought it would be quite obvious by now.

Each step it took was a struggle, one against the ever-changing wind, another against the air chill, and one more against the constant downpour of snow. In hindsight, it felt really grateful for the fact that it made what it needed before the dimensional portal hit, otherwise there would have been issues.

It checked a small device on a blue screen, and it displayed numerous things; time, moon cycle, how heavy the storm is, rare creatures, the amount of enemies nearby and killed, how much damage it was doing each second, if any treasures were detected, and small fishing equipment. It did have the ability to teleport the user home, but seeing as though home was destroyed-bed, house, entire WORLD-it would only take him back to where he first started; in the middle of nowhere.

Well, nowhere had to lead somewhere, right?

With this optimism in mind, the figure trudged on forward, occasionally letting out a flying lantern to light the way, until hours later it kept the lantern on its belt, considering that it wasn't doing much in terms of finding a path.

The figure stopped in the middle of a clearing; the outline of black, leafless trees surrounding him. If it recalled correctly, it was only 11:32 P.M., and with no way past the blizzard without a certain piece of equipment, it had to make camp where it was now. Sighing, it reached for a tungsten-colored gun with a light-blue tip extending just a few inches from the small pistol. Pointing it at a tree, it fired a long shaft of energy, and from the sounds it was making, it struck at the base of the tree, and sliced it down.

An hour passed before the figure made a suitable campfire on the ground, it's flame roaring in challenge to the icy storm bellowing upon the offenders. It also made a small platform so it wouldn't have to sit on the frozen ground. It simply gazed into the fire, and began reflecting as to what in all of Red's existence might've happened on that day...

With an inhumane roar, the Moon Lord began decaying, it's form dying out from the onslaught of bullets and bolts of magic from the heroes of Terraria. They began to cheer in victory, and when the deity burst in a shower of stars, it was over.

The Impending Doom was averted.

Where the deity fell, it left behind a lunar casket. Opening it up revealed many items: A strange device that opened portals, a pyramid of pure energy that could destroy anything in its path, a book that commanded the falling stars, a staff which called upon a wormhole of lunar energy, a gun shaped in the form of a dolphin (they couldn't question it after seeing their cousins in action), and what appeared to be...a globe of some kind?

With help from the Tinkerer, they discovered it changed the gravity of the individual at will, which caused ringing bells in the Champion's head. After some more research, it appeared that the item was far too powerful when Red released it to the world, and was placed inside the Moon Lord's heart for not only safekeeping, but as the final challenge.

With that in mind, they left it on the table inside the workshop, and headed to a special place; the Tavern. The Demo Expert ran the place when he wasn't being competitive with the Gun Dealer for possible ways to outpace each other in terms of killing prowess. Upon entering, the party was in full swing; Guide was singing along with the Pirate, Steampunker, and Clothier drunkenly, the Dealer and Nurse were in an intense makeout session, Truffle was having a nice conversation with Dryad, the Cyborg was DJ-guy knows how to pick good music, surprisingly enough-Wizard was levitating objects with the Ice Rod (getting applause from the Merchant, Stylist, and the Collector), while the Party Girl, Demo Expert, and Engineer were arguing about something insignificant. It didn't matter then. Both the Champion and the Tinkerer look at each other, nodded once, and joined the party.

Time flew by, and the party wasn't dying. The Champion was nursing a fresh pint of Ale when the building shook violently. At this point, the memories became foggy, as forces of metal and darkness began swarming the town. Countless foes were slain, and yet there were so many still coming forth to kill them all. They almost succeeded too, had the workshop not been replaced by a portal of some kind, with the world cracking apart. Taking no chances, the Champion jumped through, forgetting the Money Trough inside his house.

It wasn't stupid then; trying to collect something while the Destroyer was there would've been suicidal. There was just so much chaos at the time, it was hard to think straight. The Gravity Globe was destroyed, alongside the workshop. It wouldn't question how the portal was made, as it was one hell of a convenience that it did appear when all things went deeper than the Underworld.

But the question was, what did the deed? Explosives weren't on their person at the time, so it wasn't them. The Destroyer was a possibility, but it wasn't strong enough to cause that much damage to the workshop, Gravity Globe, and create the portal at the same time. Plus, it would be in this world if that was the case. The Demo Expert was killed early on, so it wasn't him either.

It had to be something powerful enough to cause the portal to open, destroy the Globe, and the workshop at the same time. Only a few names came to mind: Wizard, Cyborg, Pirate, Steampunker, Dryad, Moon Lord, Twins, Skeletron Prime, Clothier. He could immediately remove the Twins, Skeletron, Clothier, Pirate, and Dryad from the list, as the first two weren't present in the attack, and the other three were defending the town to the best of their abilities. Which left Steampunker, Wizard, and Cyborg. The first came by as an inventor, so it might've been her, just to see what the test could create. The Wizard was a very good possibility, because he had powers beyond that of many prewar monsters. Plus, he was old, and may have missed the intended target. As for the Cyborg, it is possible to see what might've happened as a bit of an experiment on the world.

So many names, so little time. The Champion's time reflecting and investigating was interrupted by a howl. And it wasn't from the wind this time. It stood up, the gloves it wore began glowing a flaming purple light. It readied itself, and waited for the howling to stop. Soon, red eyes began appearing in the cover of both the shadow of the trees and the blizzard fog of the storm.

The device counted 172 enemies at 1:18 A.M. The night will end with a bang, as it turns out.

The figure walked to where the fire was, and scanned the treeline. It was surrounded entirely, with no way out. So it kept an eye on the clock. 1:21. The howling stopped. 1:25. The eyes began growing larger, owned by pitch black and boney white masses. 1:29. The monsters charged. 1:30. The figure struck back.

With a single outward palm thrust, a bolt of purple energy shot out of his hand, slamming into the first monster's head and causing it to explode in gory bits. In shock, the others stopped for a few seconds, allowing the figure to retaliate easily.

Right hand glowing orange, the figure spun around, spawning an extendable, fiery whip-sword, slicing through more of the monsters. 163.

The sudden counterattack caught the monsters off guard, but some weren't fooled. Those continued to charge, but were struck down by spears of solar flame. With some patience, the figure charged a collection of these spears of dawn in a miniscule-sized sun, and swung in a horizontal arc, pinning down more of the monsters behind him. 149.

At this point, their minds caught up to their bodies, and the monsters began to attack in earnest once more. And though the storm was raining down ice, it now began raining stars upon the enemies, shattering many into oblivion. 111.

Ravens began firing arrows, dive-bombed the Champion, and even picked up other monsters to drop on top of the fighter. They never stood a chance upon seeing a massive, tracking purple mass of gravity closing in on them. 84.

Massive elephants stampeded towards the figure, and what they expected was a crushed human underneath their feet. What they got were light green beams of light piercing their bodies from a bow the figure wielded. 78.

A snake had the idea of coiling around the Champion, and began squeezing. Soon enough, both halves were eviscerated by a beam of white light coming from a pyramid the figure held. It cause many unfortunate casualties. 32.

The figure was getting bored at this point, and decided to end their efforts quickly. Hidden behind his cape was a metal dolphin, which was disguised as a gun. Pulling it out, it fired upon the rest. 0.

Closing up the dolphin, the glow of the gauntlets disappeared. Once the gun was put away, the Champion grasped the golden, gnarled hilt of a sword. Unsheathing it revealed to be a green glowing sword, with the power of purity emanating from the blade. The figure charged the sword, the glow brightening to the point of blinding, and then stabbed the ground. Green swords of pure energy now surrounded the campsite, a hum now present in the location. What red eyes were left now began dimming as the monsters left.

Although this was considered a victory in its eyes, the figure felt the fatigue of the fight falling upon him, and the moment it hit the wooden platform, it fell asleep.

Voices. Those were never a good thing to wake up to after fighting so many monsters the previous night.

Slowly, the Champion got up, and scanned the area. Nothing as of yet, and upon checking the device, the monsters apparently got the idea of leaving the figure alone. They at least knew when to be beaten. Considering the device wasn't registering anything monstrous or interesting, it had to hide.

With good fortune, it carried a simple weapon that could assist him; a small, bloodied knife. It refracted all light away from the wielder, rendering them invisible to others, but not themselves. The one downside was that it slowed the wielder down to a crawl, but a good price to pay for remaining hidden.

Working quickly, it dismantled the platform and the campfire, which died earlier, and equipped the knife in hand. Thinking quickly, it fired an orange-colored hook onto one of the trees, and landing on one of the branches after removing it.

'This branch feels dead,' the Champion thought. 'I'm going to have to hold onto the tree if I'm going to remain hidden like this.'

Upon thinking that, the figure took out a flat-based potion with an orange-colored liquid inside. Popping the cork off, it drank the entire concoction in one go, and felt the effects immediately. Eight figures were approaching the abandoned campsite, their outlines highlighted in black. The Hunter Potions were designed to only do either red or green outlines, but because the Champion was quite paranoid before destroying the Moon Lord, the black outline was designed to put the targets on a medium of sorts; an unknown variable. Allies, enemies, and a possibility of either.

Upon the small group entering the clearing, the figure took the time to scout out possible weapons. Each had their own tools, from an odd box on the hip of one, a rapier to another, dual swords, a standard sword and shield ('A classic, also the most dangerous tool if used correctly,' the figure thought), a spear and a Greek-borne shield, a hammer(?), and two guns with blades protruding from the bottoms of the guns.

'Possible threats, but the yellow one doesn't look like she has a weapon. A mage, perhaps?' it pondered. A cracking sound made it remember something.

It forgot to hold onto the tree.

'So much for stealth...'

The Champion landed in the snow, causing it to flare up around him. Sighing, it put away the knife, removing the camouflage. Upon looking at the group, it noticed seven pairs of eyes staring at it with shock and-in some cases-animosity. The eighth was staring at him with excitement and...insanity?

'What the hell is wrong with everyone on this planet?!'

The tension began building, and it made the Champion uncomfortable. The box unfolded into a scythe, one of the swords became a kurisagama, the spear into a rifle, a hole opened up on the hammer ('If I know the Demo well enough, that'll use explosives,' the figure thought off-handedly), and the bracers weren't there before on the yellow one, but it could've sworn it saw a barrel on both of the gauntlets, and shotgun shells were present.

Realizing that they all are armed and potentially dangerous, the figure held up its hands in front of itself; the universal sign of surrender. The red one noticed, and spoke slowly.

"Hello...sir? We aren't going to hurt you..."

That set the Champion off. It heard those words before, and immediately panicked. Turning on its heel, it sped off, hopefully putting some distance between himself and the deceivers.

Hearing gunshots, it began using a light pink stave to jump to different locations, expecting bullets to fly towards where it once was. Looking behind, it found the red one using her scythe ('It's also a gun?! I would find that awesome if I wasn't running for my life,' it thought off-hand) to propel herself to the Champion. Smart, if it wasn't wasting bullets. She apparently was able to move very fast, leaving what looked like rose petals as a path. A path for the others to follow.

'Not now, I just need to get out of here.'

If the storm was still going, the figure might have had a chance in escaping. But the storm ended many hours ago, with the sun still blocked by a cluster of clouds still present in the area.

The Champion didn't know where it was going, nor did it know where civilization was, or if there even is civilization. What it did know was that if it didn't hurry, the worst-case scenario will be very bottomless, if its thoughts were correct.

As minutes went by in the chase, fiery bolts fell down onto the figure, only for it to evade into another clearing, and then try to dodge the saturation of grenades ('CALLED IT!') while also avoiding spears of ice, lightning, and the like. The Champion almost tripped on a black ballistic wire, and while the others converged on the sudden slip-up, the figure used the faux victory to teleport behind them and run to their left, the figure's right.

For a second, it thought it had escaped them. Until it reached a cliffside. Sliding to a halt, the Champion almost met its demise. What sensible deity from the heavens thought it'd be a good idea to make the snow sharpen some stones into spikes? The figure dimly thought to strangle them should he die by impalement from those "natural formations."

'Damnit, this is a dead end, have to find another-'

The figure's train of thought was interrupted by the sound of footsteps. The eight deceivers blocked off all possible exits, and slowly converged. The white one spoke up this time:

"The guilty never run, sir, so why don't you give up now and make this easier on all of us?"

It eyed each of them over. The white was authoritative, and quite persistent; the red was cautious and nervous; yellow, fired up and eager; bronze, cautious, but calm; pink...was to be avoided; green, reserved and calm; blonde, anxious and nervous. The black, however, was the most interesting: uncertain, confused, minor shock, and...nostalgic?

What made this nostalgic in the first place? Perhaps she's been in this same situation before. It didn't matter, they all cornered an animal. And cornered animals will always bite back. This one was no different, except it'll rip them apart.

Tightening its fist, the flow of the nebula began to return, and the purple flame reignited. The captors took notice of this new development, and took a few steps back in caution.

Except the pink-haired hammer-wielding girl. She laughed maniacally, jumping into the air for a heavy overhead strike. The figure heard one of them yell out "Nora, don't!" in warning and fear. 'So that's her name...interesting,' it thought. It quickly raised it's palm, and let lose one of the bolts of nebula energy. They were highly inaccurate in terms of firing, but when an enemy was detected, they homed in on the target, in which escape is impossible. Especially when the bolt was a deep blue color, as it was much more lethal than the standard purple.

Needless to say, that bolt was a deep blue color.

Upon hitting Nora, she dropped like a fly. She appeared to be breathing heavily. 'How did she survive that?' the Champion realized. 'The only ones that could've survived a bolt of energy like that are the Dark Guards*, and even they can't take too many bolts without serious damage.'

It's thoughts were to be stopped, however, as that retaliation move broke the floodgates of battle. Bronze and Yellow charged, White began firing fire and ice spells, Red began taking pot shots, while Green, Blonde, and Black stood back in shock. A spear shot forward, missing the black and white helmeted head of the Champion. Grabbing it with a silvered gauntlet, it yanked harshly against the grip of the swordsman, which held her ground. The Champion had to let go to avoid Yellow's fists, which were ablaze with gunfire. A solid strike landed on its breastplate, and was placed under duress from the shotgun shell unloaded into its chest.

Now it stopped playing around; it called forth the sunsword from the gauntlet; Solar Wrath, an extendable sword-spear chain weapon, which burns with the powers of solar might. The Champion swung the sword upward, catching Yellow in the chains of the weapon, and began spinning in the same direction as the weapon, keeping it extended-and the brawler from landing another blow. Upon reaching a certain height, the wings it kept hidden behind the black cloak unfurled, expanding to keep the figure airborne, and blinding those still on the ground.

It sliced a few more times at Yellow with the solar weapon, and finished the fight with a pummeling stab, smashing her into the snow. It wasn't done, though; letting the sword sheath itself inside the gauntlet, the Champion traded it with the Daybreaker, a spear of solar light that burns the same as Solar Wrath, and began throwing the millions of spears onto the combatants. Because Yellow was out for the count, the spears dissipated upon impact. But Bronze was not as fortunate; one of the spears hit her shield, and stuck, burning her arm.

Her scream of pain caused the figure to pause, and land back onto the frozen earth. 'That scream was the same as Dryad's...' the figure thought upon the realization. It snapped back to reality, just as it saw a giant scythe blade falling to meet its neck. It jumped back, and broke out the Phantasm; a crossbow of vortex energies that fired bolts of the same energy when its arrows are shot out. Because of the reloading system the Champion created, ammunition was no issue; it began firing upon Red and White, bolts of energy firing wildly in the possible directions they'd take. Both were smart enough to hide behind separate trees as the arrows and bolts shredded the forest.

'This calls for a different approach,' the Champion pondered as the Phantasm broke down into its base energies. During the entire skirmish, it only used one of the gauntlets to call forth the galactic energies that brimmed inside; solar, nebula, vortex, and stardust. It now needed the second one to perform the next spell; Lunar Flare. With both hands extended, the veins that wrapped around the gauntlets – orange, purple, green, and blue – began glowing white, as the black sphere on the center plate did the same. It raised it's hands skyward, causing lightning and wind to come forth. Red and White didn't see what the figure was doing, but it didn't sound good. Bronze, who just recovered from the Daybreak spear, wasn't able to move fast enough to stop the figure from charging the spell, and Yellow moved to a sitting position to see the figure throw its hands down.

And watch as her sister and teammate face peril from the falling stars themselves.

Her screams of sorrow and rage went unheard as the sound of the flares drowned out the pain. After ten seconds, the storm stopped, and a cloud of white covered over the deed. The figure wasn't done, though. Allowing the figure's wings to take flight, it walked off the edge, and a chromatic glow took place of the white, in which it began to charge something dangerous.

The energies of the Last Prism were known to be deadly to all foes upon getting struck by its light. It would be no different against the deceivers. Placing one palm above the other, but not grasping either, it hovered over its chest, glowing brightly.

Blonde unsheathed his sword, and extended his shield – 'Useful, and intuitive,' the figure thought off-hand – and Green loaded his guns. They were ready to stop the Champion from doing this. They took the first step -

"Stop! Both of you, just stay back!"

And stopped at Black's panicked voice.

Now this made the Champion curious, and stopped the spell from charging fully. It watched Black unsheathe her weapon, and was intrigued by her laying it down on the snow, and kicking it towards the figure. Moving itself towards the blade, it landed back on the ground, and picked it up. In its peripheral vision, it saw Red and White survive the Flares, but were struggling with standing.

The Champion, now completely immersed with the weapon in front of it, began tinkering. It first swung the sword normally. Seemed heavy, but worth it in terms of cutting down an opponent. As it scanned over the sword, it unsheathed the second part of the sword; a katana that lied within the cleaver-sheathe. It was smart, and should an opponent try to disarm, they could only take the cleaver part of the weapon, and be slain by the second part of the weapon.

Upon noticing the magazine where the pommel was at, it clicked on a button and the blade collapsed, becoming a type of pistol. As it did this, it caught the argument of the people in front of it, saying it was not only stupid, but suicidal. With that piece of the argument in mind, it clicked the button again, and began walking over to Black.

Yellow, Red, White, and Bronze noticed, and took a defensive position in front of Black, but she pushed them aside, and walked towards the Champion. Both stopped a few feet away from each other, neither saying a word. Cleaver in its right, and katana-pistol in its left.

It then spoke, for the first time since it appeared in the world:

"I...believe that these..." its voice was raspy, and paused to think each word: it held up the two swords, and began sheathing them. "...are yours..." it finished, completely sheathing them. It changed its hands so they were underneath the blade.

Black was stunned; from fighting all of them to suddenly returning a surrendered weapon? "What...why are you returning me Gambol Shroud?"

'That's the name of the weapon? Interesting.' "I returned it...for you...didn't want to fight...unless...you had...no choice," it said. "You've...earned my respect...and trust. Not many...can do that...upon meeting...for the first...time."

If she wasn't stunned before, Black certainly was now. The people behind her were very confused, while Blonde and Green were somewhat shocked, and neutral. Nora was struggling to get up, and Green rushed over to help.

"From what...I've...gathered, you and...your allies...were going to...call in?" the Champion asked, catching Black off-guard. "Better...do so now...otherwise, you'll...face destruction...by the monsters that...reside here." It took a step back, and sat down on the snow.

15 minutes later...

The calm air was thick with tension and veiled anger. The figure wasn't a fool; it could sense Yellow's rage, White's distrust, Red's animosity, and Bronze's unease with the Champion. It was why the figure sat at the cliff, legs dangling off of the side. The cloak reappeared once the wings folded back inside, making it seem more human than normal. Black, who called in their pilots – 'Aircraft! I can finally give my wings a rest.' - said that they'd be here in about 15 minutes. And while they all waited, Black talked with the other four it sensed that they didn't trust the Champion. Which, in all regards, was about the most acceptable thought they had right now. However, it was their fault for continuing the chase, so they were to blame for a portion of the situation.

Luckily, Blonde – who was called Jaune – Green – who's name was Ren – and Nora took a risk to talk to the figure, and try to trust the Champion, like their companion did. Jaune appeared weak physically, but had the potential and, in some cases, drive to excel in any given scenario. Ren was somewhat like the Champion now in terms of speaking; didn't speak unless there was a need to, in which in the fifteen minutes of waiting, had a few enlightening conversations. Nora wasn't insane, as from what it heard from Ren, just...eccentric. She wasn't mad at all for the sudden counterattack the Champion used; in fact, Nora was excited, and wanted to try it again in the Arena, whatever that place is. Though Ren was unsure about Nora's misplaced eagerness in the terms of the figure's attacks, he was curious as to how it managed to do the things it could do.

"A...later time, perhaps. Now...wouldn't be the... best of ideas, all things...considering," it said, receiving a nod from Ren and Jaune, and a whine from Nora about being unfair. She seemed to get the hidden message, though, and didn't pursue it any further.

Which was great timing, as well, since the Champion heard the airship landing. It was...not as impressive as the technological methods of travel it had seen back on Terraria, but it looked very solid, so there was no issue there. It walked behind the rest, into the ship, and found a seat away from the others, as to not make them as uneasy as before. Soon, the figure felt the ground shift from underneath them, and took off to an unknown location.

Why am I ending it here? Because no reason, other than to piss you all off. In which case, I'm doing my job!

To begin, I did say that I was going to hang up the towel in terms of writing the Shadowfall Game. I DIDN'T say that I was hanging up writing. The Game was far too big for me to handle alone, and I couldn't find the time to write it all out if I had the ability to do so. Issues are constantly harassing me, and I can't dedicate the time to write something that massive. Instead, this will be what I focus on until I can work on it full-time.

So! Until then, the schedule will be erratic, which means that you shouldn't expect a chapter each month. I'll also be streaming games on Twitch very soon – this upcoming Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, to be exact. My handle is the same as my FF screen name, so there isn't any confusion. The connection will be shitty, however, and until an asshole I know of fixes his router – I'M LOOKING AT YOU, TOM! - it might not be a solid stream.

This is TehUnoman, and I'll hear from you guys very shortly on Twitch! If not, then stay tuned for the next chapter!